I took a trip down memory lane and watched Road Trip from 2000. It stars Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Tom Green, DJ Qualls, Amy Smart, and Rubin. Todd Phillips directed it. He also did the more popular Hangover series in 2009. This got me asking myself, is Road Trip that bad of a movie (it’s not) and how does a movie like this get produced considering how dumb the premise is?
It opens with Tom Green giving a tour at Ithaca University. This was when Tom Green was in his heyday and this was basically his movie debut. The Tom Green show on MTV was an absolute gem that I’d stay up until 11 pm to watch it on weekdays in high school. 1 year after he followed with the lead in all-time classic Freddy Got Fingered (it’s considered one of the worst movies of all time). His comedy was very over the top. Whether it be making out with the mom during the tour, fondling breasts in bed, or feeding Mitch, “UNLEASH THE FURY!”, (which is actually a hilarious scene the way the snake goes flying at the end), they played into his success and used him well to promote the movie.
Which brings me to Seann William Scott. E.L, which is a bizarre name to begin with, was a Stiffler remake. This is why I laugh at this movie because it tries to do what it’s known for. E.L talking to Josh’s penis (“It ain’t easy beings Josh’s penis. Nothing has happened for two months it feels like I’m in a coma.”) was delightful. “Invested? Who are you, Charles Schwab?” Or humping the air in the bus to I Wanna Rock. Just a funny character.
Breckin Meyer is kind of squid, but you need some main character to move the story, surrounded by better ancillary characters. The Amy Smart love scene was great when I was in high school and now it’s fairly tame by PornHub standard. Kyle had some funny moments specifically being that tiny pencil under that mammoth cheetah in bed. Seeing how big that girl was made me wonder how he ever would have boinked her. One of my favorite lines was with Kyle and E.L when they were debating on letting him use the car and E.L goes, “or just give us the car, That would make him a risk taker.”
I mention all of these scenes because who would make this movie? It was a commercial success grossing $119 million with a budget of 16. If you pitched me this idea of 4 friends going on a road trip to stop a sex tape, who would say this was a genius movie? And that’s the beauty of it, it’s not, except that all the pieces fit together perfectly. How do you not laugh when E.L spits across the bridge and it breaks further down only to completely destroy the car on the jump? That was epic. If you read my movie post, you’d know I’m a relatively harsh critic, but this movie was perfect for the year 2000. A generational piece that I lived in around the same age and it was a funny movie.
“I’m not mad!”
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